Observation of the In-plane Anomalous Hall Effect induced by Octupole in Magnetization Space

The Anomalous Hall Effect (AHE) manifests as a transverse voltage proportional to magnetization in ferromagnetic materials under the application of a charge current, being an indispensable tool for probing magnetism, especially in nanoscale devices. However, the AHE primarily sensitizes to out-of-plane magnetization, thereby hindering its capacity to discern the in-plane magnetization, a characteristic prevalent in ferromagnetic films. Here we challenge this conventional understanding by demonstrating the in-plane magnetization-induced AHE in iron and nickel, two ubiquitous ferromagnets. This observation of the in-plane AHE is remarkable as it contradicts existing theories that forbid such phenomena in cubic crystal systems. We trace the origin of this unanticipated phenomenon to a hitherto unconsidered octupole of the anomalous Hall conductivity in the magnetization space, a mechanism we propose could enable the detection of in-plane AHE in a wide range of ferromagnetic materials. This work realizes the in-plane AHE in common ferromagnets by exploiting the anomalous Hall conductivity octupole, revealing a new physical origin of the AHE and promising to revolutionize the design of magnetic devices and sensors.